An Expected Betrayal |TBATE

Chapter 22 - Explanation

GREY

"An ancient mage?!" exclaimed Caera as she studied the tiny man. "Yes, my name is Bruce. I would like to train you Grey," the man admitted.

"Train me? But how!? My mana core is broken, I can't be anything anymore!" I yelled with the feelings of despair I've been putting off finally creeping up on me. "I do not have a mana core either, but I am in charge of this zone. How do you think this works?" Bruce questioned.

"Then how-"

"Aether, I can train you to use aether. But I only have a year of my life left so that means I will be unable to have the girl with you," Bruce explained.

"I understand, I'm fine with it," said Caera, much to my surprise. "But Caera-"

"Don't 'But Caera' me, I'm your girlfriend now, I can wait for you to come back. But you need to be able to go on ascents with me, okay?" asid Caera as she gave me one final hug before Bruce teleported her away.

I turned to Bruce. Caera had just left, now my girlfriend and the 4th person to accept me for who I am. I felt relieved but at same time, terrified to find out what training Bruce had in store for me. "So, what do you have planned for me?" I questioned, I wanted to know how he knew my old name but that could wait.

"That's simple. We'll need to create you aether runes so that you can use aether," explained Bruce. "And how do we do that?" I inquired. "That's simple, I need you to take a meditative position and I'll insert the runes onto your body," Bruce replied.

I did as I complied and I noticed a small black will-o-wisp inside of my body. "Don't worry, it's just me buddy," said Regis. I was amazed he could do that but I ignored it. Soon I felt itchy all over my body. I began to feel a sort of power surge through me. It was purple, I could only assume it was aether.

I then heard an annoyed grunt coming from Bruce. Without opening my eyes I asked about it. "I haven't done this in ages so I'm a bit rusty," he replied, although I don't think that was the reason. I soon found out the reason why. It seemed the aether was being gathered to my new companion.

I tried to stop it only to find out I could manipulate it but only to an extent. That's strange, I thought I would need all the runes, is Regis interfering in some way?

"Yes I am, I just wanted you to think you were special," teased Regis. I sighed at my companion's antics.

"So Bruce, now that you're done creating the pathways what do I do now?" I questioned. "That's simple, we'll need to get you your first god rune," said Bruce with a smile on his face.

I shuddered, I don't know what a godrune is but if it's much stronger than a rune then I can't imagine what I have to do to get it. "Don't worry, it won't be anything combat related, we are a peaceful race after all. Or, we used to be at least," trailed off Bruce. I couldn't help but to feel bad for him.

"Here, I have this for you," said Bruce, throwing me a small cube. It was unremarkable but surprisingly heavy. "What is this?" I questioned, turning the cube around in my hands in an attempt to understand what it is.

"It's a mindstone. By putting aether into it you'll enter a mind realm that will allow you to gain insight into this rune. Unlike spells you need insight to use a rune, these mind stones help greatly with that," explained Bruce.

"I will leave you alone for 3 months. I will see you then," said Bruce as he suddenly disappeared. Then the room around me warped into what looked to be a living room. It was my living room from my past life. Only Bruce had removed everything that could be used as entertainment, from TV to books. "Well Regis, looks like we'll need to get working," I said as I sat down on my old bed.